I have just spent a good half hour getting through to LNER. When eventually I reached a human, I explained that I was wanting to travel from Newark to London and back on 23rd November but understood there were engineering works on the line. There will be no trains beyond Grantham from Kings Cross after 12.00 noon on 23rd November until after 12 noon on 24th November. So there will be nothing going south either. I wanted to know what alternative travel arrangements LNER had made so that people can make a journey beyond Grantham. I want to book theatre tickets but there is no point if I can't even arrive at my destination or know when I will get home. Short answer is "they don't know". There are engineering works but it is all in the hands of Network Rail who haven't yet confirmed the timetables, so LNER can't say what, if any, alternative arrangements will be made and/or what the timetable will look like. The same applies for 25th and 26th October, which dates I am also trying to book and have been for weeks now. The person I spoke to acknowledged it is all a bit of a mess. Honestly, LNER makes me fizz with all their rabbiting on about the great new Azuma trains and providing more trains and more journeys. The Azuma trains are no improvement in any respect to the previous trains - same old rotten service. I just wish LNER would organise themselves and provide a basic reliable service. I have no choice about which company I use and if I had any choice, LNER would be the last one. So, no progress on being able to book weekend journeys from now until the end of December. LNER don't know when the dates will be released and they don't know what alternative replacement travel arrangements will be in place, nor do they know what the timetable will be or indeed, if there will be any trains at all on those dates. And I thought all I had to worry about was the punctuality of the trains!! I certainly didn't anticipate having to throw good and expensive theatre tickets in the trash due to not being able to travel. A general rule of thumb from now on for me is that I am going to avoid travelling on a weekend.
